Robin: While I was growing up, rhubarb wasn´t really part of my life. I´d heard of it, tried it a time or two in pie (and hadn´t thought particularly highly of it), but it just seemed like a boring olden days thing that old timers talked about. I guess it didn´t help that said old…
Snacks
No-Bake Pineapple Coconut Balls (“Snowballs” or “Bunny Tails”)
Robin: These two-bite balls of goodness call for only 3 or 4 ingredients and are super easy to make, but they are full of tropical-flavored deliciousness. They are cute enough to offer guests on a special occasion (call them “snowballs” if it´s winter, “bunny tails” in springtime, etc.), yet simple enough to make for a…
Stuffed Jalapeño Peppers
Robin: Jalapeño peppers may be famous mostly for their piquancy, but, like other peppers mild and hot, they also have great flavor. It’s sad that many people only think about fresh jalapeños when making, say, pico de gallo, because these chiles have so much more to give. Jalapeños are delicious stuffed, much like their larger…
Easy Pickled Jalapeño Carrot Slices
Robin: Many times a jar or can of pickled jalapeño pepper slices will contain 3 or 4 tiny slices of carrot, usually right on top as you open the container. These spicy carrot slices are considered by many to be the very best part of the whole pickled pepper experience. Lucky is the person who…
Banana-Blueberry and Banana-Cherry Breads
Robin: Last week somebody someone at work gave me some leftover bananas and half-jokingly said, “Here, make some banana bread.” So I did. It had been many years since I´d made any. Maybe decades. I mean, I do occasionally bake a killer pumpkin bread, and I love these zucchini-bread-like chocolate chip cookies, so quick breads…
Sweet and Sour Pasta Veggie Salad
Robin: I could very well have named it “surprise salad” to reflect the way people often react when they first taste it: despite its rather insipid appearance, this pasta salad is loaded with flavor. Folks see a mild-mannered pasta salad and expect something, well, ho-hum at best—but once they take a bite, it’s a party…
Coconut Merengue Cookies
Robin: I love the way that these cookies are familiar-feeling, yet different. They are a cross between a macaroon and a merengue, and as such, are both light/crispy and sweet/chewy. Their bright white color makes them a striking addition to an assorted cookie tray or dessert table. They taste good, too, of course! You might…
Basic Capirotada Bread Pudding
Robin: The origins of bread pudding are lost in the mists of time—which makes total sense to me, since it is an excellent way of putting stale or leftover bread to good use. One version of it, called capirotada de vigilia or simply capirotada, came to the New World via the Spanish colonists and evolved…
Chinese Café Sweet Muffins (Panqué de café chino)
Robin: Despite what some might consider a misleading name, these delicious quick-bread muffins are part of the same vast and amazingly varied universe of Mexican sweet breads to which the ultra-famous conchas and polvorones belong. One important sub-category of this delicious array of breads is the pan de café chino or Chinese café bread, so…
Deep Fried Jalapeño Slices
Robin: I recently came across huge cans (about 6.5 pounds each) of nacho-sliced jalapeño peppers being sold for only a dollar. I didn’t buy one right away, but a seed was planted; after mentally debating myself on the issue for a couple of days, I decided that I could not pass up this deal, so…